We merry band
by Sadness Of Gaia
Summary: The chronicle of a band of newly ascended deava, following them as they get to grips with their new, immortal existence. m/m f/f jesus tower/infinite void of space.


I shuffled on the ice, my claws scraping at the ground. Behind me, Anaise stood tall, ever the perfect warrior. Her wings were perfect even in the wind- she'd oiled them before we left. Mine weren't too bad- although I was sure they would be soon. 'Well, we need to get up there.' I pointed out. A massive glacier hovered above us, floating on Aether machines. We'd been told that some other new deavas waited up there and we were to meet them and get a group assignment. We'd be in this band for a long ass time, so I figured we should go and meet our gravestones makers. Anaise wasn't so sure. She wanted to go and meet the locals first, get a few jobs of our own.

'Do you even know how to fly?' she asked, meeting me at eye level. Her amber eyes bored into me like an old, bitchy teacher. Sighing, I admitted defeat.

'I'm as landlocked as a cooked chicken.' I confessed. She rolled her eyes and turned around, walking away. I followed her nervously; aware that some awful plan was waiting for me. Our walk took us up a hill and along a curved path, which ended just above the temple. We could see most of the citadel from here- the orange buildings looked tarnished and misplaced against the white snow.

'You'll have to start from here.' She said, pointing to the end of the path. Just below were the spiked defences of the temple. I hadn't died yet- not that I planned to- but being impaled sounded like a slow, painful first death.

'Have you flown yet?' I asked her, looking for reassurance.

Looking up at the glacier, she simply stated 'Never, but I doubt it's overly difficult. Summon your little fire creature, if it'll make you feel better.' Calmly accepting death by spiked pit, I raised my hand and chanted the rhymes I'd been taught. A ring of light opened by my feet and out of it coalesced a little, vaguely humanoid creature made of flames and magma. It hummed happily and whirled round before hovering up behind me.

Nodding, Anaise opened her wings and beat them; stirring winds up around us and earning an awed gasp from a human who looked on. As her beats grew stronger, she began to lift up slowly. About five humans watched now, eager to see this new champion's first flight. With a strong jump, she shot off into the air, her glistening wings and armour shining under the wan light. The mortals cheered then turned to me expectantly. Gulping, I spread my wings out. They caught the breeze and beat instinctively, spurred on by ancient memories. I pushed them down and up as hard as I could. The Aether around me resonated in them and-without thinking- I jumped into the air, giving a last push of my wings. I moved up, each wing beat sending me higher and higher, up towards the glacier.

Flight -oddly enough- felt easy, as natural as walking. My wings carried me easily, powered by my own muscles and the latent Aether in the air. The odd extrusion I'd grown on the front of my chest contracted with each wing beat, pulling them down then throwing them up. Anaise circled above me- a black hawk with bright steel armour. My little fire elemental buzzed behind me, humming louder and spinning gleefully. 'Not so difficult, was it?' she called down, flipping gracefully mid stroke.

'Easy as walking!' I called back to her, already at ease. It felt free to be in the air- no people here. I'd been told that in our capital, everything was designed for flight. That had put me off, but now I almost relished the thought. Crystal spires, flight from tower to tower- it sounded like a myth.

Even closer, however the big ass glacier that I'd forgot about. I almost flew into it before I realised it was there. Banking away from it, I turned to look at it, expecting to see a large, floating piece of ice. Instead, there was a large, crystal covered piece of ice. Green outcroppings grew from it at irregular intervals, all humming with Aether. 'Guess whose gonna have to clean that up?' I said aloud. 'Us, the new guys, barely even able to fly.' I landed on the glacier tentatively, noticing the ache in my new flight muscles. The area around the odd point in my chest felt tired, like muscles after a workout- or at least, what I'd heard they felt like.

Anaise was already ahead of me, approaching a smaller man, who was tinkering with something. She cleared her throat as I approached, making him drop the toy in surprise.

'Are you the new kids?' he asked us in a heavy, deep snarl.

'Yes. I am Anaise. He' she gestured to me with a talon, 'Is Mathias. We were told to come here and meet the rest of our troop.'

'Aye, aye.' He replied dismissively while he picked up the toy. 'They're round on the other side, waiting for you.' He handed us a wax sealed envelope with one hand, the other picking apart the mess of cogs and wires. 'You'll find the orders in there. Now get going.' He turned away from us, muttering about important research.

Anaise glared after him, then extended her wings and took off in one motion, wheeling around to the left. Sighing, I followed her, banking around in an attempt to catch up. She was much faster than I was already- much the same as on the ground.

A small group was standing on an outcropping, huddled together. They all had wings, so assumedly they were our group. Tucking my own wings to my back, I dived down towards them, flaring them out as I approached the ground. Anaise was already on the ground, striding towards them. Rolling my eyes at her attempted imperiousness, I followed her quickly, acutely aware of the click clack my claws made on the ice.

'At last, the raiders arrive.' One of them said. Her skin was a pale pink colour and her long, black hair was decorated with flowers and pearls. A silver harp rested beside her, faintly glowing with white light.

'We were delayed on the ground' Anaise replied curtly, surveying the others. Another woman stood to our left, playing with a mace. She wore heavy, plated armour-the kind that battle priests wore. Her hair was short and jet black, nearly matched by her dark indigo skin. Behind her was a man with long, flowing crimson robes that were somewhat similar to my own. He was bald, with lighter purple skin. An odd girl rested to their right. She wore goggles and had countless pistols strapped to her belt. Her skin was pale green and her hair was bone white. Unlike me, none of them had horns. I rubbed my own self-consciously, feeling their familiar curves and ridges. I'd thought they were a relatively normal occurrence-or at least they were where I came from.

'Yes, yes.' The odd girl said, twitching her wings. 'We saw you milling around down there. You made it up though, so congratulations.' She pointed at herself with a thumb. 'I'm Janice. The priest is Ronna, the sorcerer is Trimetis and the harpist is Bridgette. You are?'

'Taken aback by your forthrightness. Also known as Mathias. That's Anaise.' I replied brightly. The sorcerer chuckled at me, knocking into Janice.

'Don't worry, she isn't always that bad. She'll be better once we're on solid ice.' She shoulder barged him- hard. He stumbled, sliding on the ice. As he did so, my little fire elemental flew up from underneath the ledge, buzzing furiously. It butted me with it's head before settling down beside me, humming contentedly.

'A summoner?' he asked, eyeing the little creature.

'No. That's my dog, actually.' I told him dryly. 'Is it not obvious?'

'What's it called?' Janice asked, adjusting her goggles.

'I haven't named it yet.' I admitted, looking down at it.

'Ifrit.' She determined shortly and then pointed to the letter in Anaise's hand. 'Are those our orders?'

'Yes.' Anaise replied simply, then snapped the wax seal. She read them quickly, and then handed it over to Bridgette. 'We're to gather Aether crystals up, until we have about two pouches full each. Then we must go to pandemonium and speak to the craft leaders. They'll elaborate on its uses and such, then induct us into two methods of crafting each.'

'You read all that in such a short time?' Ronna asked, raising an eyebrow in doubt. Her voice was old and deep, gilded with an exotic accent. 'You must be a learned child.'

'I must be.' Anaise responded tersely. She hated being referred to in demeaning tones. They reminded her of our past.

'We're going to the capitol?' Janice asked, clapping her hands together. 'I haven't been there since I ascended, and I barely saw any at that.'

'Neither did I.' Trimetis added on. 'I hear you have to fly everywhere there, and that they have massive floating libraries full of spells.'

'The Aether forges are there as well… I've wanted to see those my whole life.' Janice sounded awed, a sentiment I copied. You grew up hearing of pandemonium, with its crystal spires and floating palaces. They said all Deavas got a home there as well, once they could fly up and reach it.

'We'd best get going then.' Said Bridgette, who'd finished reading now and was scanning around. 'I'll go with Anaise. Mathias goes with Ronna and Trimetis go with Janice. Does anyone object?' We mumbled collectively, not wanting to stand out. 'Excellent. Fan out, and we'll meet at the teleporter.'

We all took off, and I went with Ronna, following her to the east. She flew easily and I noticed her wings had colours mine lacked. Her feathers were tinged with green, shining as we flew.

'Ronna, when did you ascend?' I asked her, struggling to keep pace. She turned round and saw my labouring flaps then slowed down, laughing as she did so.

'I ascended about five years ago. Me old band has split up now, so I volunteered to go with you younglings, teach you the ropes.'

'Do all bands split?' I queried, thinking about fallouts among deava. We couldn't die, so any fights probably were to the pseudo-deaths of the participants.

'No, child. Mine were divided over personal matters. Most endure until they're formally dissolved. Even then, band members are often friends for the rest of their days.'

'Oh, alright.' I spotted a floating shard of crystal and banked over to it, Ronna following after me. 'It's just, you can fly in all that armour and your wings are different.'

'You'll get better wings once you take to the abyss. Don't worry, it'll come soon. Now grab that crystal and keep looking. We'll need another three or four.' I snatched the gem from the air, admiring it's shape and colours. It was jagged and green, laced with black eddies and yellow swirls. When I held it, it hummed in response, like a string that had been plucked.

I hovered in place for a moment, scanning around for more crystals. My wings were starting to ache now-the muscles almost felt as if they were about to snap.

'I need to land soon.' I complained tilting myself down. 'My wings are aching.'

Ronna called down to me from above 'You'll need to glide down. Just hold your wings out straight and let gravity take you. Don't worry about it. I'll go and get the others.' She wheeled away, calling the others' names.

I did as she said, holding my wings out and letting gravity pull me down. I leaned a bit to the left so I could circle down to the ground. The ache in my wings didn't let up, but it was still easier than flying on them. While I glided down, Ifrit buzzed around me. They hummed to themselves happily, spinning around every few seconds with a spark. As I approached the ground, they darted ahead to melt the snow off of the road. I landed on the heated stone with a click, relishing the heat blossoming up from the road. I shook myself out then sat down, Ifrit settling in front of me.

'That was fun, wasn't it?' I remarked to the little elemental. They hummed louder in response, then darted off to the left. He melted a few other patches of snow then returned with a contented buzz. 'Good Ifrit,' I said, feeding him a scrap of my mana. 'That's a nice little fire elemental… When we get to the city, I'll buy you a treat.' They hummed in a much higher pitch then swirled around, the flames on their arms flaring in response.

'Are you okay, child?' Ronna asked from behind. I jumped in the surprise and then exhaled deeply. I hadn't even heard her land.

'I'm fine. Flight is too much like hard work.' She laughed at that while she walked over. Sitting down on the warmed stone, she asked 'Tell me, where do you and Anaise come from?'

'It's a long story.' I said, tucking my wings against my sides snugly.

'We've got an eternity.' She reminded me casually.

'I forgot about that… Alright then.'


End file.
